Finding Nemo

Like the previous films by 'toon production
powerhouse Pixar (“Toy Story” and its sequel,
“A Bug's Life” and “Monsters, Inc.”) “Finding
Nemo” is fun for the whole family--colorful and
entertaining for kids and witty enough to
engage adults. But while those previous films
were undeniable achievements in computer
animation, “Finding Nemo” is perhaps the first
time Pixar's technique has produced results
this artistically beautiful.

In the film, Marlin
(Albert Brooks) and his young son Nemo
(Alexander Gould) are separated during a
typical familial spat by a well-meaning scuba
diver who captures Nemo and takes him to a
fish tank at his dentist's office overlooking the
Sydney Harbor. While Nemo attempts to
escape with the help of some new friends,
Marlin, a rather fearful and nebbish creature,
nonetheless sets out to traverse the ocean in
search of his son, picking up the friendly but
very forgetful Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) along
the way.

The characters and setting of
“Finding Nemo” are rife with opportunities for
puns, of which writer/director Andrew Stanton,
a protégé of Pixar founder John Lasseter,
takes full advantage: Marlin is a clownfish, and
so everyone he meets on his oceanic voyage
prods him to tell them a joke, at which he,
ironically, fails miserably; a scared little
octopus wails, “You made me ink!”; and one
character threatens to “fry 'em up and serve
'em with chips.”

It's a lot of fun, and yet
“Finding Nemo” is also socially responsible.
One of Nemo's fins is underformed, and while
Dad has given his son a boost of confidence
by dubbing it his “lucky fin,” he still frets that
Nemo is not a very strong swimmer and thus
unable to fend for himself--a key sticking point
in their ill-fated argument. Separately, with the
help of their respective new friends, Marlin
realizes that he has to let his son go to
experience the world, and Nemo learns that
he can do anything he puts his mind to.

But
such details as plot, dialogue and theme
ultimately are just the framework on which this
beautiful tapestry is hung. The film opens in
the Great Barrier Reef, characterized, as is
much of the rest of the ocean, by a saturated
color palette of blues, pinks, yellows, purples
and greens. A forest of pale pink jellyfish is
hauntingly beautiful. And when the fish
surface, the water is pastel, reflective, as
lovely or lovelier as anything that actually
exists in nature.

Moreover, there are times
when one can actually see the subtly reflective
scales on Marlin, Dory and Nemo, and the
textured skin of the sharks and whales in the
film is so effectively rendered that viewers may
wonder whether they could feel their leathery
hides if they reached up to touch the screen.
The effect is such that, when watching this
film, one can practically smell the fish.
Voiced by Albert Brooks, Ellen
DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush,
Allison Janney and Alexander Gould. Directed
and written by Andrew Stanton. Produced by
Graham Walters. A Buena Vista release.
Animated. Rated G. Running time: 101 min